Forgery Workplace Safety – An Eye on Injuries

by Waqar Hassan Blogger, Author and Entrepreneur

Each year, thousands of workers from across the UK’s forging industry suffer some degree of eye injury. Some are of course more severe than others and thankfully the majority leave no permanent damage, but in many cases lives can be adversely affected due to a simple lack of proactive personal care.

It’s only when these kinds of injuries occur that folk take a step back and really think about the importance of simple PPE and other workplace safety staples. This is of course of little use as the affected party can’t exactly go back and do things differently, but nonetheless should represent a lesson to be heeded by everyone else.

At the last count, no less than 35,000 sick days are taken every year across the UK resulting from people having suffered an eye injury. A horrifying statistic, but what’s even worse is the way in which at least nine out of ten of these need never have happened. The rules are there, the safety gear is provided but there will always be those who assume they know best – until of course they’re proved wrong in the most painful manner possible.

In the metal forging industry, to claim workers aren’t exposed to a variety of hazards everyday would be untrue. But at the same time, each of these hazards has its respective safety measures to ensure it need never cause an injury.

It would take nothing more than a little added proactivity in the workplace to ward off the overwhelming majority of eye injuries sustained each year, which for the most part constitutes guidelines as simple as the following:

1 - Read the Rules and Heed Them

All forging plants are slightly different and therefore all have slightly different rules to follow when it comes to safety. As such, it’s in the best interests of anyone working in such an environment to not just give the rules a token thumbing through, but actually read, digest and heed the information on offer. What’s more, when and where the rules don’t cover all areas of importance, the responsible worker should be asking questions.

2 – Eye Protection Must be Used

By UK law, any working environment in which Personal Protective Equipment represents a genuine need for health and safety preservation must make it abundantly available. As such, every reputable forging plant across the UK will provide as much protective eyewear during forgings as necessary for its workforce, though it’s in the hands of each individual employee as to whether or not they bother using it. It takes nothing more than the tiniest fault or unexpected impact to send metallic debris right into the eye of any given worker, who may in a split second find their life changed forever.

3 – Use Machine Guards Correctly

The same also goes for the guards that are fitted to much of the machinery used in the forging process. Again, the only reason these guards exist is to minimise all risks posed to the individual using the machine at the time – don’t bother with the guards and you leave yourself wide open to all manner of horrific injuries. And when it comes to the assumption that it’s ok to use just the guard or PPE, this is again a recipe for disaster – both are mandatory.

4 – Use Safety Glasses With Safety Masks

One of the worst habits to fall into when working in the forging industry is that of assuming that when you wear a safety mask, this means safety glasses are not necessary. In fact this isn’t the case at all as safety masks should always be placed over safety glasses as the mask itself may not offer sufficient protection for the eyes.

5 – Regular Eye Checks

There are two reasons why having regular eye checks is important – the first of which being the importance of 20:20 vision when handling precise tasks. As for the other, it’s rare but certainly possible to suffer a minor eye injury in the workplace without actually realising it which over time could manifest as something more serious. So in order to keep tabs on eye health in general, it’s a good idea to organise regular eye checks.

6 – Understand Emergency Guidelines

Last but not least, it’s of the utmost importance for every employee across the shop floor to know and understand what to do in the case of an eye-related emergency. This could mean always being aware of where the nearest first-aid kit or eye-wash station is, how to help an employee in distress and generally being able to help in times of crisis. A matter of seconds amounts to a great deal when an eye injury presents itself – being prepared can make all the difference in the world.